The Tote: flickering back into life
On the face of it, the Tote is flickering back into life. It has a new look, which is being rolled out across Britain’s racecourses. It has reintroduced the Tote 10 to Follow competition...
Category: Of Course
Mike Deasy’s racing column.
Marks out of ten for racing’s leading lights
Candidate for the Labour Party leadership Rebecca Long Bailey (pictured) has given Jeremy Corbyn marks of “ten out of ten” as a politician. It has been observed that with two election defeats, failure to...
Apprentice jockeys deserve more and deserve better
The most disappointing aspect of the row over the new plan for apprentice jockeys’ prize money and riding fees share is that the hopes of four aspiring jockeys of joining Andrew Balding’s yard next...
Seeing yellow, or not, as the case may be
Sandown’s void race fiasco Before dissecting the fiasco that was Sandown’s final race on Saturday, let’s not forget the sad circumstances which brought about the situation. The Venetia Williams (pictured) trained and Toby Blackwell...
Customer service in good health in the north and Scotland, but down south…
Customer service struggling down south It was noticeable that last month’s Racecourse Association Showcase Awards were dominated by tracks in the north of England and Scotland, where nine of the 13 awards have gone....
Bookies and Britbet fall out at Ffos Las
Britbet ruffles bookies’ feathers There was a bit of a falling out the other week when on-course bookies found out that, next year, Britbet, owned by a consortium of racecourses, had been granted two...
Tote unveils new look and brings back some old favourites
The Tote unveils new look and brings back some old favourites We’re beginning to get a feel of what the new owners of the Tote are going to offer. The return of the Horses...
Oohs and ahs at Ascot
Not in the normal manner, not in the normal part There were lots of oohs and ahs after racing at Ascot when the Berkshire track put on its firework spectacular. In the closing stages...
Weather can’t spoil a great Champions Day at Ascot
When you have a tad short of 30,000 racegoers going through the Ascot gates, and the TV audience peaks at 1m, it can be said that racing has a success on its hands with...
Tote sale offers racing a ray of hope
The deadline was the end of this month, but the deal was agreed last week and Betfred sold the Tote to the newly named UK Tote Group. Under its original name, Alizeti, the Group...